The Bishop of London presided on Thursday at a public
meeting called by himself to relieve the spiritual destitution of London. He considers, and proves his opinion by statistics, that there are 211 parishes deficient either in clergy or church accommodation, reckoning one clergyman to every 2,000 people. There are 11 parishes with only one clergyman for 8,000 people, 14 more with one to 6,000, 59 with one for 4,000, and 110 with one for numbers above 2,000. He took 3,000,0001. as the sum required' within the next ten years, of which the Ecclesiastical Commission might provide one. His speech was brave and sensible, but not clear upon one point. How much of the money raised is to be spent on brick and mortar, and how much on the decent payment of work- ing men? We are not of those who think a brick chapel equal to a stone church in civilizing effect, but neither is of any use without a teacher inside it, and a teacher to be effective must not be poverty- stricken, nor must he be everywhere a man just beginning his career. The classes to be civilized are very sick of boy- curates,. yet clergymen with private means do not select Bethnal Green, and a man cannot be restricted all his life to 150/. a year.
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